Satoru Iwata has announced a selection of new special pre-paid cards will be coming to Japan during a Chotto Nintendo Direct. What's so special about them? Well, they double up as augmented reality cards, which can be used in conjunction with new 3DS downloadable AR software called Isshoni Photo.

The software will be free to download and can be accessed by simply scanning the QR code that comes with the card. Japanese 3DS owners will be able to use the software to take photos of the characters and interact with them.

There will be a total of six pre-paid cards made available, all of which feature characters from the Mario Bros. series. The first batch of cards feature a Goomba (1,000 Yen), Mario (2,000 Yen) and Peach (3,000 Yen), and will be available in stores on 23rd April. The second trio will be Koopa Troopa (1,000 Yen), Luigi (2,000 Yen) and Bowser (3,000 Yen) and there's no release date for them just yet.

Interestingly, the cards can be placed next to one another to watch the characters interact. Each character has their own emotional responses which you can observe using the 3DS.

There's no news yet on whether or not these cards will make it outside of Japan. We're looking forward to seeing how they all interact with each other. You can check out the entire Chotto Direct presentation below. It shows off a few of the cards and also reveals some new footage of the upcoming eShop titles Dillon's Rolling Western: The Last Ranger and Freakyforms Deluxe.

What are your thoughts on these new AR pre-paid cards? Would you like to see them come to Western shores? Let us know in the comments below.